Speaking at the Ocean Energy Industry Forum in
Dublin, the Minister said, “Ireland has a landmass of around 90,000 square
kilometres, but a sea area of around 10 times that size, at 900,000 square
kilometres. Ireland’s position at the Atlantic edge of the EU gives an almost
unparalleled offshore energy resource, with suitable conditions available for
the development of the full range of current offshore renewable energy
technologies.”

The Minister went on to say, “The potential of
the offshore renewable energy sector to be a source of sustainable employment
and growth in the green economy has been consistently identified in Government
economic planning and job creation strategies, and by the European Commission in
its recent Communication on ‘Blue Energy’ – especially in coastal communities
where job creation faces particular challenges.”

The Minister stressed the crucial importance of
safeguarding the public interest in protecting our valuable marine environment,
highlighting the fact that the OREDP is grounded in the principle that all
development of offshore wind and ocean energy in Irish waters will be fully in
line with Ireland’s EU and international environmental obligations and best
practice. The Minster went on to re-state the importance of the citizen being at
the heart of the transition to renewable energy – both onshore and offshore –
and the importance of timely and transparent engagement with the public for all
offshore renewable energy development.

The OREDP identifies the opportunity for Ireland
to increase indigenous production of renewable electricity, thereby contributing
to reductions in our greenhouse gas emissions, improving the security of our
energy supply and creating jobs in the green economy. The implementation of the
OREDP, led by DCENR, will be mechanism through which government action across
the environmental, energy policy and economic development dimensions will be
coordinated to support the offshore renewable energy sector to reach commercial
viability. ENDS

Note for editors:

The OREDP is designed to
facilitate the development of offshore renewable energy across three key pillars
– environmental sustainability, technical feasibility and commercial viability
by coordinating action across all of the relevant Government policy areas.

Working in conjunction with
existing structures such as the Marine Coordination Group, chaired by the
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, an Offshore Renewable Energy
Steering Group (ORESG) will be established to oversee the implementation of the
OREDP. Chaired by DCENR, the ORESG will have representation from the Departments
of Environment, Community and Local Government (DECLG), Enterprise, Jobs &
Innovation (DEJI), Agriculture, Food & the Marine (DAFM), Defence,
Transport, Tourism & Sport (DTTAS), along with the Marine Institute, the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Parks & Wildlife Service
(NPWS) and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), and the offshore
renewable energy industry. The ORESG will also consult with other marine users
in the course of its work. The Group will report to the Minister for
Communications, Energy & Natural Resources. Both the OREDP and the Strategic
Environmental Assessment (SEA), carried out for the OREDP, will be reviewed
before end 2017.

The ORESG will oversee the
implementation of the OREDP through 3 workstreams:

o Environment – to
ensure energy input to the new planning and consent architecture for development
in the marine area (led by Department of Environment, Community & Local
Government) and to take forward the findings and recommendations of the
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Appropriate Assessment (AA) carried
out for the OREDP, to ensure robust environmental monitoring of offshore
renewable energy development.

o Infrastructure – to
support delivery of grid and port infrastructure (in the context of Grid 25 and
the National Ports Policy), upon which the development of the offshore renewable
energy sector is critically dependent.

o Job creation – the
coordination of existing RD&D support for emerging ocean energy
technologies, developing a supply chain for offshore renewable energy, exploring
opportunities for international collaboration, working with State development
agencies to attract investment, the introduction of an initial market support
scheme for ocean energy (wave and tidal) and linking to on-going work to put in
place an Intergovernmental Agreement for the export of renewable energy to the
UK as a route to market for electricity generated by offshore wind.

In this way the OREDP will also provide critical
input for planning decisions in the marine environment and the development of
marine spatial planning in Ireland.